Glenmen Gareth Brown and Chris Kirk left the Oval yesterday morning for the start of their Stride the Stadia challenge, that will see them walk a 210 mile route around every Irish Premier League ground over five days, starting and ending with their own beloved Oval. They will return on Saturday, in time for our final pore season friendly, at jhome to Crusaders
The purpose of Sport Changes Life is to help elevate the aspirations of young people across Northern Ireland through sporting excellence, academic achievement and personal development. They do thiss through their VICTORY Scholar Programme and community eHoops Programme.
Gareth said before leaving on the trek: “I am a family man from a working-class area in Belfast who prides myself on being a good role model to my kids. It is important that they see me keeping myself both physically and mentally active and in doing so helping others; not just in my own community but other communities irrespective of who they are or where they are from. This has been a tough year for everyone with the pandemic, so we just wanted to get outdoors and do something fun, that was close to our hearts and generating money for charity at the same time. So, we are walking to keep active, talking to keep our minds well, laughing to keep our spirits up and getting to visit all the Irish Premier League football stadia across Northern Ireland!”
Gareth and Chris with the Glentoran shirt signed by the first team squad and management. Watch this space later in the week for details of how to enter the raffle fo win the shirt.
Chris expressed very similar sentiments: ““I’ve seen the impact that sport has had on me growing up and from a young age it taught me about core values like respect, teamwork and motivation. These core values are shared by the programmes Sport Changes Life offer in our communities. They work with young people with the sole aim of raising their aspirations to help them succeed and thrive, no matter what their circumstances or backgrounds are. As well as trying to involve all the Irish League teams we will be inviting local grassroots soccer clubs, youth organisations, community groups. local businesses and anyone who wants to help us raise our £20k target and spread the message that sport really can change lives.”
Chief Executive of Sport Changes Life, Gareth Maguire: “Helping empower young people from disadvantaged communities to find the path to a brighter future is something Sport Changes Life is extremely passionate about. We’ve been established for over a decade now using sporting excellence, academic achievement and personal development to deliver a number of youth engagement programmes across the island. Whilst current lockdown restrictions have been challenging, now, more than ever we see a greater need to improve the lives of young at-risk youth and the funds from this #StrideTheStadiaChallenge will enable us to roll out several exciting new initiatives, over the coming year”
The guys are no strangers to raising money for their local communities and others. Last year they both organised the ‘City Hall to Summit Challenge’ raising over £16k for a local mental health and suicide support charity.
This year you can donate to Sport Changes Life here STRIDE THE STADIA Go Fund Me page or Text STRIDE (amount) e.g. STRIDE 5 to 70085
